Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-01
American seamans1ip.

The yacht race at New York yes
terday was an event of National inn
portance. The triumphant victory of
the American vessel, in which she
beat her British rival by a round ten
minutes, conveys an important
lesson. The trials of speed on Tues
day last, and again yesterday furnish
. complete test as to the sailing quail
ties of the two yachts. 1t will be
remembered that the hackers of the
Thistle were most confident of victory
in the event of the race being made
under light wind. Well, on Tuesday,
the wind was very light, yet the Vol
unteer won easily. To put all cavil to
rest, the race yesterday was run before
half gale, the wind blowing during
the whole trial, at fifteen to twenty
four miles an hour. The American
boat crossed the line ten minutes
ahead of the Scotchman, having led
over the entire course. The Britisher
never for moment showed his heels
to his competitor. Last year when the
Galatea lost the famous cup
to the Mayfower, the Englishmen
had claimed that all he wanted was a
stiff breeze to enable him to run away
from the Yankee. The breeze was
decidedly fresh, but the Mayfower
showed her heelsIin fine style from
start to finish. 1 We're these merely
isolated occurrences they would not
have much significance; but it is to
be remembered that since first the
cup was won at Cowes, England, in
1851, by Commodore Stevens yacht
the America, to yesterday, there have
been no less than seven contests fol
the cup, including the first and last
In all these races the American bull
vessel has held the trophy in spite o
all comers. In the first trial tht
America competed in English waters
against a fleet of seventeen vessels
the flower of the royal yacht squadron
The little stranger ran twenty min
utes ahead of the first boat of the Brit
ish feet, and the rest were nowhere =
So paralyzed was the nation
''whose flag has braved thousand years
The battle and the breeze"
That it took twenty years to summon
up courage to attempt to take back the
trophy. In 1870 an English craft
sal led against feet of fifteen Ameri
can schooners. The first of them
beat the Britisher by nearly forty min
utes, and three others came to the
stake ahead OF their rival.
The following year an attempt was
again made to capture the cup with a
craft built with great care for this es-
pecial purpose. The result was that
the Columbia beat the Livonia in two
straight heats. In the third heat the
American schooner was beaten owing
to an accident; but another vessel, the
Sappho, entered the lists few days
later and beat the Englishman in two
straight heats.
In 1876, Canadian built yacht es.
sayed to win the trophy, but she
ne yer saw anything except the sterr
post of her rival in two contests. II
the second, the old America, which
first won the cup, sailed over th'
course alongside the rivals, and ever
she beat the "Cannuck.
Then came a resting Of a few year
until in 1881 another Canadian cam'
to "get left" two American schooner
leaving their rival in the lurch.
We all remember how in 1885 thu
Puritan beat the Genesta; and the de
feat of the Galatea by the Mayfowe
was mentioned above.
In all these contests the foreigner
have never won a single heat from
America.
Making all fair allowance for the
difference in the circumstances with
reference to which the deep-keeled
yachts OF England, and the center
board schooners of America are built,
there is beyond all this the potent
{sct, that the American is the best
|1,.zlo.r 4, 5 ~, x.,rv1d Tn TIM old f;vx,oe